§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the total amount of money from legal aid now owing to solicitors and barristers in Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesClaims by solicitors for fees and expenses in connection with legal aid cases are not normally expressed in monetary terms and merely state the extent of work carried out and expenses incurred. The amount due to a solicitor or barrister for legal aid work is not, therefore, known until an assessment has been made by the Legal Aid Department of the Law Society in accordance with 587W prescribed scales of fees, and that assessment approved by a statutory committee. It is not, therefore, possible to give an exact figure of the amount now owing to solicitors and barristers and it is estimated that at 1st December 1974 the figure was in the region of £112,000.
§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the longest periods that payments of legal aid are outstanding in Northern Ireland; and for what amounts.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe assessment of amounts due to solicitors for legal aid work is carried out by the Legal Aid Department normally in the month in which the claim is received and not later than in the following month. All claims received in respect of civil cases and minor criminal cases by 1st November 1974 have been settled.
In certain major criminal cases it is the practice for advance interim payments to be made pending the final assessment of the amount due. These cases represent between 7 per cent, and 10 per cent, of the number of criminal cases received each month and all such cases received prior to April 1974 have been settled. As regards the cases in this special category which are outstanding from 1st April 1974, it is impossible, because of their complexity and the detailed calculation required of the amount in each case, to indicate at any particular time the amount due on individual claims prior to their formal assessment and certification by the statutory committee.